Another night, another NAC stage crammed with talent. Canada Scene closed on Sunday, but on Saturday the festival treated the Babs Asper Theatre audience to Anishinabekwe, a night featuring five outstanding performances from five outstanding female Indigenous artists.

From July 19-22 seize the unprecedented opportunity to work alongside some of the North’s finest visual artists. The National Arts Centrehas seven specially invited artists from the Far North exhibiting and running workshops where you can try your hand at soap-stone carving, jewelry making, beading, caribou hair tufting and more under the guidance that only a master crafter can provide.

Josh “Socalled” Dolgin of Chelsea, Quebec is the kind of artist who defies categorization, in his case openly and verbally. He is different and that will be evident at his Canada Scene concert with Yves Lambert Saturday night in the Babs Asper Theatre at the National Arts Centre.

Apt613 contributor Jessica Ruano is joined by a member of the local theatre community, Arden Usin. They share their thoughts on some of the shows seen recently at the Canada Scene Festival (running June 15 to July 23).

Born out of a collaboration between luminary playwright Hannah Moscovitch, larger-than-life musician Ben Caplan and director Christian Barry, Old Stock blends music, theatre, and storytelling to tell the story of Moscovitch’s great-grandparents who arrived in Canada in 1908 as refugees fleeing the pogroms.

In the National Arts Centre (NAC) Salon from July 12-15, you’ll find Dance Machine, battery opera performance’s interactive installation of 64 pieces of bamboo hung from a large copper disk. A brainchild of Malaysian-Canadian dancer and choreographer Lee Su-Feh, Dance Machine makes the case for dance as a collective act, to be created as well as experienced.

The National Gallery of Canada’s foray to Canada Scene is Our Masterpieces, Our Stories, a visual art exhibition on from June 15 to September 4. It is a sweeping look backwards at the breadth of Canadian art from “time immemorial” to 1967. With a bird’s eye view of Canadian art through the centuries, this exhibit is a good starter before you delve into other visual art exhibits this summer.

This week on the podcast, Apt613 contributor Jessica Ruano is joined by two guests, theatre producer Lesley Parlane and local writer David Currie. They share their thoughts on some of the shows so far at the NAC’s Canada Scene Festival.